India returned to Lord’s and rediscovered the taste of victory, 32 days since England tumbled to Ishant Sharma in the second Test. Much has changed since then, of course, with a trio of heavy Test defeats leading to Ravi Shastri swapping the commentary box for a new role as team director for the five-match one-day series.

That has not led to an immediate rethink on the “It’ll be all right on the night” approach to preparation preferred by Duncan Fletcher, who is to stay on as head coach, for the moment at least – and was tracksuited on the Lord’s outfield for catching practice between innings, while Shastri, 13 years his junior, stayed in the pavilion in shirt and tie.

India used all 17 members of the one-day squad here, although MS Dhoni’s contribution was restricted to a few overs in the outfield as the engaging little leg-spinner Karn Sharma applied the last rites to the Middlesex innings. Dhoni looked a little incongruous fielding in front of the Grand Stand at deep square-leg and leaving the Trivandrum teenager Sanju Samson to keep wicket, but that did not seem to worry the thousands of India fans who had formed long queues down the Wellington Road towards St John’s Wood Tube station despite the unseasonal nip. A lucky few took the opportunity to grab an autograph from the captain, who is expected to resume from Virat Kohli in Bristol on Monday.

After his miserable Test series Kohli relished the change to blue clothes and white ball, predictably although not inevitably, as Gurjit Sandhu and especially Steve Finn posed some awkward questions early on. Finn had Rohit Sharma lofting to third man and took a sharp catch himself at mid-on to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane and, with Shikhar Dhawan squandering the chance to find his form by chipping Sandhu to mid-off, the tourists looked in danger of further embarrassment at 52 for three.

But Kohli combined the odd play-and-miss with some of the sizzling strokes that England have so far denied him, most memorably a pushed on-drive to the pavilion boundary off Finn and a six over extra cover off Ravi Patel – although the young left-arm spinner responded well to have Kohli caught behind for 71 and condemn Ravindra Jadeja to another failure.

Ambati Rayudu, a 28-year-old with 13 ODI appearances, staked his claim for a place in the middle order with a composed 72 off 82 balls before retiring in the 40th over to make way for Samson, Stuart Binny and Suresh Raina, the most unlikely No11. But the last four wickets fell in rapid succession to Ollie Rayner, and more than five overs remained unused when Raina was stumped.

New format, same old slapdash, although it did not matter as Middlesex subsided tamely. Finn and Eoin Morgan, who fell fencing at the impressively accurate Mohit Sharma, had left to join the England squad in Bristol long before Dhoni took to the field.